The Thir13enth Ghost: The Ocularis
by Magdalena Iris Roth
Summary: [REVAMPED] !Finished! Its been almost two months since Dennis and Evelyn have seen a ghost... but that's all about to change thanks to an old friend! Can they survive the Ocularis together? Series 2: The Ocularis
1. Cyrus's Will

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The Thir13enth Ghost: The Ocularis  
  
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By: Magdalena Iris Roth  
  
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It had been almost two months since Dennis and Evelyn had last seen Cyrus, Serena or any ghosts. They were now living their usual hectic lives in their cramped little apartment in New York, things were as normal as they could be for them.  
  
"Evy, where's the aspirin!?!" Dennis asked frantically as he ran from each messy room of the small apartment.  
  
"Its in the bathroom cabinet!" she shouted to him from the other room as she rushed to find her shoes.  
  
"No it isn't!" he whined back.  
  
"Well if it isn't its cuz you set it somewhere else!!!" she shouted at him in a bad mood, Dennis stopped in his tracks.  
  
"Alright... breathe!" he said with a stressed look on his face.  
  
"I'm sorry..." she sighed, pausing for a moment to calm down. "It's just... I think I'm getting sick, and I have to go to work... we're behind on the rent..."  
  
"It's gonna be okay, trust me." He muttered as he hugged her.  
  
"My stomach doesn't feel okay!" she whined as she rested her head on his chest. "God! What time is it?" she asked suddenly, lifting her head up in search of a clock.  
  
"I love you too." He said sarcastically.  
  
"Damn... its almost seven, I gotta find my shoes!" she mumbled stressfully as she walked away from him.  
  
Evy found her shoes and slipped them on, she bent down to tie them when I knock came on their door.  
  
"I'll get it." Dennis sighed.  
  
Dennis went to the door and opened it, standing in front of him was a blonde man in his late twenties in a black suit carrying a black suitcase.  
  
"Mr. Rafkin?" the man asked him.  
  
"Yeah." Dennis responded confusingly.  
  
"I represent the estate of a Mr. Cyrus Kriticos." The blonde man told him, Dennis just stared at him blankly. "May I come in?" the man asked indecisively.  
  
The blonde man introduced himself as Ben Moss... Cyrus' lawyer. He sat down at the rickety kitchen table, opening his suitcase on it, he pulled out a stack of paperwork, along with something else...  
  
"So, Mr. Moss, what are you doing here again?" Evy asked the lawyer.  
  
"As I'm sure you already know, Cyrus Kriticos' accidental death has made Mr. Rafkin..." Ben stopped talking once he noticed the look on Evy and Dennis' faces. "You two didn't know that Cyrus was dead?"  
  
"No... we did not." Evelyn stated, Dennis just looked around the room, paranoid as if he was worried that Cyrus' ghost was going to jump out and get him.  
  
"On December 17th Cyrus' body was discovered by one of the men he worked with." Ben told them.  
  
"December 17th, what time?" Dennis asked.  
  
"Around ten in the evening."  
  
"How did he die?" Evy asked calmly.  
  
"He was nearly decapitated by a sheet of metal at a junkyard in Chicago." Ben said uncomfortably, Evelyn nodded as she walked towards the window, her arms folded against her chest.  
  
Dennis looked down at the floor uneasily.  
  
"In his will, Cyrus requested that you have this." The lawyer told Dennis, handing him the oddly shaped gold key.  
  
"A key?" Dennis muttered confused as he reached for it, as soon as he touched the metal object he got a flash of violent images, twisting metal, grinding steel, sliding glass walls engraved in Latin scripture... but what stuck in Dennis' mind the most was the stacks of hundred dollar bills among the winding machinery.  
  
"A key to what?" Evy asked just as confused as Dennis was, then he handed her the key... she automatically flinched when she touched the metal object... Dennis knew she had seen the images too.  
  
"According to these documents... a key to your new house." The lawyer said.  
  
"Why does this go to us, I mean what about Arthur... he was Cyrus' nephew." Evy rambled, then she saw Dennis' puzzled appearance, Evy then remembered she never told him about her visit to the Kriticos'.  
  
"Who? How do you know he had a nephew?" Dennis asked her suspiciously.  
  
"Long story... I'll tell you later." She muttered.  
  
"Well since Arthur Kriticos is the next in line to inherit Cyrus' residence, if you refuse the offer... or if something happens to you, the Kriticos family will inherit it." Ben Moss informed them.  
  
"Where is the house?" Dennis asked.  
  
"Willow Grove, Pennsylvania." The lawyer stated.  
  
Evy and Dennis just looked at each other. 


	2. What The Cat Dragged In

"I can't believe you didn't tell me you did that!" Dennis fussed at Evelyn as she drove, following Ben Moss' car. "Were you ever gonna tell me?"  
  
"Yes... of course, it just slipped my mind... I swear!" Evy whined. "I... I'd never lie to you." She whispered as she focused on the road ahead of her, Dennis just looked out the window remorseful.  
  
(Music In: Tricky, Excess)  
  
Ben Moss looked into the rearview mirror, as he gazed back at Evy's car, an evil smile grew upon his lips.  
  
Back at her apartment, which resembled a messy museum, Kalina rushed around, searching through her desk drawers, rummaging through old scrolls and papers. She stopped and looked around with a panicked look on her face, she reached over and slipped a large, ancient, leather-bound book into her satchel.  
  
The two cars pulled up to a odd looking structure that seemed to be located in the middle of nowhere, but they weren't the only ones there...  
  
"That's strange..." the lawyer whispered as he got out of his car and noticed the black car that was parked in front of his.  
  
Dennis and Evy followed Mr. Moss to the weird house, then they almost stop breathing when the realized who was waiting at the front door.  
  
(Music Out)  
  
"Well... look what the cat dragged in..." Serena said in her usual pessimistic tone as she glared at Dennis and Evy.  
  
"Wha-what are you doing here?" Dennis muttered as he looked at her astonished.  
  
"I was gonna ask you the same thing." She smarted back.  
  
"Uh... can we discuss this inside, please?" the lawyer asked eagerly.  
  
"Sure." Dennis said, he pulled the weird looking key out of his pocket, slowly he inserted it into the small opening in the side of the house.  
  
As Dennis turned the key, strange noises were heard from the inside of the house, then slowly the metallic circles on the door began to spin. Suddenly the lights switched on, exposing the entire house to them... it was completely glass.  
  
"Why does this all seem familiar?" Evy mumbled in shock as she walked to the clear wall and peered in.  
  
The glass doors slid open in front of Dennis, he just looked around curiously, too surprised to step inside. Serena pushed by him, Dennis jerked back, his arms and hands in the air... making sure he didn't touch her. Serena stepped into the glass doorway, Dennis and Evy slowly followed her. As soon as they stepped in front of the two main doors, they slid open, the three peered into the large room, their jaws almost on the floor.  
  
"This way please..." Ben Moss said, walking into the room as they just stood in the doorway.  
  
Serena slowly stepped into the room, gawking at the walls and objects that lined the floor. Dennis looked behind them, looking over the doors they had come in through... somewhere deep down he wished he was going through those doors, instead of the ones Evy was now leading him through... into the house.  
  
"This place is amazing!" Serena muttered as she looked over the antiques and statues in the hallway.  
  
Dennis looked over at Evy suspiciously.  
  
"Why would someone want to live in a containment cube?" Evelyn asked confused as she stood next Dennis by the doors.  
  
The lawyer looked back and forth at the three nervously.  
  
"Trust me... you get used to this stuff after a while..." Serena stated, tapping on the glass walls. "I know I have..."  
  
"What do you mean?" Dennis asked curiously.  
  
"Huh? Oh-nothing..." Serena suddenly changed the subject. "So you two get this place?" she asked confused.  
  
"I guess... have no idea why though..." Evy whispered as she looked at the walls, tracing the spells that were engraved with her finger.  
  
"Great! Now we get to live in a containment cube... lucky us!" Dennis said ungrateful.  
  
"Were you born this pessimistic... or is it an acquired trait?" Serena asked him in a cocky tone.  
  
"Acquired, took many years of being ignored and unappreciated to get me like this!" Dennis stated, almost proud.  
  
The lawyer walked into the next room, the three began to follow him.  
  
"Wow!" Evy gasped as she stared down at the beautiful floor, the center ring was spinning perpetually.  
  
Dennis gazed up at the stained glass ceiling above the floor, he almost lost himself in its beauty... but then he was brought back by the sound of Ben Moss commenting on the room's design.  
  
"Beautiful isn't it, a living work of art..." the lawyer quoted.  
  
Serena looked at the floor, noticing the symbols that the rings were decorated with. "I guess Cyrus was really overprotective of his house..." she whispered to herself.  
  
"Uh, Mr. Rafkin, Ms. Chase, we still have some papers to sign in the library, then I would be happy to take you on a tour of the house..." Mr. Moss suggested, Dennis and Evy nodded. 


	3. Curiosity Killed The Cat

Author's Note:  
  
Okay... first off, yes... I am trying to rewrite the movie Thir13en Ghosts! Only in my version... no Arthur, no Kathy, Bobby, not even a Maggie! Sorry... this is just how I envision it!  
  
So... there's the plot... all's left is the crap in-between... so please, enjoy!  
  
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Evelyn glanced around the large glass room, it was covered in expensive antiques and books... then there was that self... shelves actually, all by themselves on that one clear wall... there were three shelves, each with four objects aligned on them. As she walked closer to them, Evy saw a flash of violent images, so fast she couldn't catch them... but it was all she needed, slowly she backed away from the wall.  
  
"So, if you would please read these over... then we can get to the signing!" Ben said eagerly, opening his briefcase and laying the papers on the large table in the middle of the library.  
  
Dennis reached across the table and picked up the papers, he then put on his black-framed glasses and began to read the documents.  
  
Meanwhile... down the hall, two doors to the right, Serena slowly crept down the glass staircase, into the basement. She slowly walked down the dark hallway, glancing back and forth at the glass walls that surrounded her.  
  
"Okay... if I was money... where would I be?" she asked herself quietly as she pondered.  
  
Serena then heard a faint 'ting' sound of something metal hitting the glass, she looked around paranoid... no one was there.  
  
"Hello?" she questioned... the only answer was the echo of her own voice. "Stupid EctoBar glass!" she cussed under her breath as she continued to creep down the hall.  
  
Suddenly, her paranoia began to eat at her, Serena sighed as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of the clear spectral viewers, she slipped them onto her face. As she glanced around, noticing the spells on the floors that were now illuminated, Serena began to feel worried, she walked further down the dark hallway... then she heard the sound again.  
  
Serena turned her head to the right, she froze as she peered through the glass... she gasped at what was staring back... the Jackal gazed back at her through the glass, and his rusted cage. Serena slowly stepped away from the glass as the Jackal growled at her. When she turned around, the mutilated Angry Princess looked back at her through her cube, Serena then let out a blood-wrenching scream as she took off running for the staircase, she had to get out of the basement!  
  
"I still don't get this, why would Cyrus give this place to us?" Dennis questioned as he held the papers.  
  
"Maybe he really did loose his mind after all!" Evy commented as she walked around the library.  
  
"Please, Mr. Rafkin, sign!" the lawyer insisted, holding out the pen.  
  
Dennis sighed, he reached across the table and took the pen from Ben Moss, he leaned his tall frame over the chairs, putting the documents on the table to sign them.  
  
"Dennis!!! Evelyn!!!" he heard someone scream frantically, Dennis leaned up curiously.  
  
Serena came running through the library doorway, sweat pouring down her face, she was wearing the viewers.  
  
"What happened?" Evy asked concerned.  
  
"Th-the base-basement!" Serena gasped out of breath.  
  
"What about it?" Dennis asked confused.  
  
"Its full of ghosts!!!" she shrieked.  
  
"What!?!" Evy exclaimed.  
  
The lawyer glanced at them... he was even more nervous than he had been earlier.  
  
Dennis walked over to her, Serena slipped off the viewers as she paused to catch her breath.  
  
"Why would Cyrus keep ghosts in his basement?" Evy asked.  
  
"Cuz he's fucked up! That's why!" Serena wheezed.  
  
Dennis moved towards her, as soon has got within a few feet of her, he moaned in pain.  
  
"Ahhh!" he shrilled, falling to the floor in agony.  
  
Serena bent down, she reached over and touched him, forgetting how much it hurt him in the excitement of the moment. Dennis convulsed in pain... images flashed before his eyes...  
  
The glass doors were sliding, ancient scrolls were being unrolled, flashes of Henry, the Jackal clawing, an old book being opened... and yet more glass, being moved, engraved, even flashes of the viewers being constructed...  
  
Evy ran to Dennis' side, she put her hand on his forehead, slowly she helped him up off the floor, Serena fell back in shock.  
  
"Are you okay?" Evy asked him worried, Dennis nodded. "How's your head?" she asked.  
  
"Not good." He answered, rubbing the back of his head. "Where's the suit?" he asked them as he looked over towards the table... the lawyer was gone.  
  
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"Idiots!" Ben scoffed as he walked down the staircase into the basement.  
  
He removed a pair of the clear viewers from the jacket pocket of his suit, Ben put them on as he confidently strolled down the dark hallway. The Torn Prince stood by his beloved fallen car, tapping the bat in his hand as he watched Ben closely through the glass.  
  
"What're you staring at?" Ben asked the ghost in a cocky manner, the spirit just glared back at him.  
  
The First Born Son held up his tomahawk at the passing man.  
  
"Hey kiddo! Thinks I'm gonna duck!" Ben commented as he passed the cube.  
  
The Angry Princess twirled her damp hair as she watched the lawyer approach her cube.  
  
"Hey, nice tits!" he mocked, the Angry Princess beat at the wall in anger. "Whoa! Gees, you! What's amatter honey, bad representation?" Ben sarcastically implied, the ghost peered at him evilly as she held up her knife.  
  
The lawyer came to two large glass doors, he reached down and pressed a small switch by the floor... the doors slid open. The large mechanical beast's rings spun slowly around its frame, the golden pendulum swung back and forth perpetually. Ben walked past the machine, he went straight for the large black suitcase that rested on three levers by the desk... he smiled as he picked it up. As he sat the case in the chair by the desk, the second ring on the floor above him began to spin slowly, Ben opened the case, taking out one of the many stacks of one hundred dollar bills that rested in it.  
  
"Not bad for an hourly wage!" he sighed as he glanced over the money, he then put the stack back in the case and closed it.  
  
The doors upstairs to the front entrance slowly began to move, sliding along the glass block floor... they slid shut, locking as they came together.  
  
Ben grabbed the case and headed for the doorway, trying to leave as quickly as possible now that he had what he came for.  
  
The metal plates began to move, they slid back and forth, up and down as they covered the glass, shielding the view of outside. Dennis, Evelyn, and Serena looked at each other baffled as the walls around them began to move.  
  
"Its time to leave!" Dennis muttered as he looked around paranoid.  
  
"I'd say so!" Serena stated as she rushed to the doorway.  
  
All over the house the plates and walls slid back and forth, like a living jigsaw puzzle.  
  
Ben glanced around confused as he tried to find his way out of the basement. The second ring on the first floor came to a halt, aligning itself with the symbol on the other rings... at the same time the white handled lever with the same symbol flipped up... the glass door to the Angry Princess' containment cube slid open.  
  
Ben looked around in curiosity as the walls moved, the Angry Princess stepped out of her cube, she slowly walked in front of him, raising her knife... Ben almost froze in fear.  
  
"Hey, I-uh..." Ben paused as he slowly crept backwards, away from the angry ghost that was moving towards him. "I was just kidding, before... little lawyer humor..." he moved back as he tried to talk his way out of danger.  
  
As Ben stepped back two pieces of glass quickly slammed together, right through the man, severing him. The ghost moved slowly towards him, the lawyer was still standing upright, staring at the spirit... slowly the two halves of his body slid down the glass, exposing the back half of the man's insides. The Angry Princess watched pleased as the man's split body fell to the floor, then she heard the sounds of footsteps above her, she slowly turned and disappeared. 


	4. Too Good To Be True

Author's Note:  
  
Sorry for the delay, I fear that I may be on the break of literary paralysis, my writer's block has gotten that bad! So please, don't rush me... but don't hold back on reviews either... they encourage my writing capabilities more than any other inspiration on earth could! Sorry again for the wait and shortness of chapters... thanks for reading.  
  
~ Magdalena Roth  
  
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Dennis led them out of the library and down the hall to where the door was... but when they arrived things had changed.  
  
"Where's the door?" Evy asked worried as she looked around the room.  
  
"What the hell!?!" Dennis asked as he ran to where the front door had been, it was now sealed shut.  
  
"What now?" Evy muttered.  
  
Dennis beat on the glass in anger as Serena slowly walked up to the statue in the center of the hall that was dressed in ancient battle gear.  
  
"Its no use... "Serena murmured. "Its EctoBar glass... its shatterproof... soundproof..."  
  
"So we're just trapped in here!" Evy yelled.  
  
"Pretty much." Serena sighed, walking over to a chair and sitting down.  
  
"No! There has to be another way out... I mean why would someone build..." Evy trailed off, realizing how delusional Cyrus was. "Nevermind! Let's just find a way out of here!"  
  
Serena and Dennis followed Evy blindly as she charged in the opposite direction, obviously hoping the house had a backdoor of some kind.  
  
"Well... nothing, as usual." Serena smarted as they searched the back of the house, no door in sight.  
  
"Wait, stairs." Dennis uttered, pointing at the staircase on the other side of the glass wall.  
  
"I doubt there's a way out up there." Serena fussed.  
  
"Just get your ass up the stairs!" Evy shouted at her, Serena and Dennis both stared at her shocked.  
  
They crept up the stairs, once on the second floor the walls began to move again. All three of them jumped in fear at the same time once the stairs behind them slowly slipped away, Dennis looked around at the other room curiously.  
  
"Okay, you go down there..." Serena mumbled gesturing to Evy and the right hallway. "And you down there..." she said to Dennis, pointing down the left hallway.  
  
"No, I don't think we should split up!" Dennis shrieked.  
  
"Just walk down the hall, and look in the rooms, that's it, okay!" Serena said slowly, as if for a small child to comprehend.  
  
"Okay..." he muttered, looking over at Evy who only nodded.  
  
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Evelyn quietly walked down the clear hallway, glancing over her shoulders every ten seconds. She stepped into the open room, it was beautifully decorated in Victorian antiques, a mirrored chest was coved with ancient brushes and golden hand mirrors, a large bed was positioned in the center of the room, it was draped in silk pillows and lined in satin sheets.  
  
"Whoa..." she uttered in shock.  
  
Evy slowly made her way over to the open doorway that was conjoined with the bedroom, the bathroom.  
  
Dennis peered into the room, it seemed to be decorated to inhabit a child... a little boy to be exact. Then something resting on one of the glass shelves in the room caught his attention, Dennis slowly reached over and picked up the pair of clear spectral viewers, as he held them in his hands he glanced around the room suspiciously.  
  
"Cyrus, you crazy son of a bitch, what did you do?" Dennis muttered with anxiety.  
  
Evy entered the bathroom, quenching her curiosity as she gawked at the gorgeous perfume bottles that lined the shelf by the ivory sink. There was also something else on the self, something that Evy neglected to notice, a pair of the spectral viewers. Her eyes wandered around the elegant glass block room, it was like something out of a fairytale... a beautiful Victorian bedroom accompanied by the perfect bathroom... it was too good to be true.  
  
As Evelyn leered at her ostentatious surroundings, someone else entered the room... someone who Evelyn wasn't too found of. Quietly Dana crept into the bathroom, where she was being called by the silent screams of her own blood, which covered the glass room. The ghost obliviously stared at herself in the mirror, which Evelyn stood in front of as she unknowingly shared the room, Dana then lurked over to the bathtub... she silently brushed back the shower curtain and rested herself in the tub.  
  
Evelyn suddenly distracted her attention towards the bathtub, she tiptoed over to it slowly, pulling back the shower curtain and glancing down, as if to make sure no one was hiding in it. With her paranoia conquered, Evy then sat down on the corner of the tub to rest... she was starting to feel light headed with all the excitement that the night had brought... little did she know it was only the beginning.  
  
The lifeless eyes of Dana Newman twitched as she awoke from her postmortem coma, realizing that someone else was in the room with her, that someone else was sitting by the tub... intruding on her last beauty bath. Slowly her head began to contort in anger as she raised her knife out of the bloody water, she then positioned it towards Evelyn's back...  
  
Evy sighed as she started to regain strength, she glanced down at the glass block floor of the bathroom in contemplation. What was happening to her? Why was Cyrus toying with her and Dennis? Didn't he have enough fun torturing them in life?  
  
Dana raised her knife higher in the air, ready to strike... she drew back one last time then...  
  
"Evy!?!" a male voice called to Evelyn from outside the room, she stood up from the tub and walked towards the doorway of the bathroom.  
  
"In here!" she called to the voice.  
  
Dennis walked into the bathroom, looking around frantically at his new surroundings.  
  
"Where's Serena?" he asked her, Evy shrugged.  
  
Dennis then noticed the viewers resting by the sink, he reached over and picked them up curiously.  
  
"What are those things doing here?" Evy asked in a dreary voice, referring to the glasses, now in his hands.  
  
"That's what I'd like to know... I don't think Serena was hallucinating what she saw in the basement..." Dennis murmured, staring down at the viewers fearfully.  
  
"Then we really do need to get the hell outa this house!" Evy shrieked, rushing him out of the bathroom to find Serena.  
  
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Finally! I finished the bloody chapter!  
  
I know it was kinda short... but it's all I could manage write down in this depressing state of mine...  
  
I'll try to write the next chapter faster, and with more abundance!  
  
P.S. Happy Birthday Matthew Lillard!!! Today Dennis Rafkin turns 33!!!  
  
*grins with enthusiasm even though he's a total stranger to her in real life* 


	5. Side Tracked

Author's Note:  
  
This chapter is kinda short, don't bitch at me about it! I'm working really hard to beat my writer's block, it isn't as easy as it seems, trust me! Hope you all like this chapter, I'll try to write the next one faster and with a little more content.  
  
~ Magdalena Roth  
  
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"Serena!?!" Both Dennis and Evy shouted at the same time, running down the staircase.  
  
They had searched upstairs and found her to be nowhere in sight, now they were forced to look on the first floor.  
  
"She couldn't have left, the place is sealed, right?" Dennis asked himself more than Evy as they searched through the downstairs hallways.  
  
"I don't know anymore..." Evy sighed.  
  
Serena stood over the table in the library, glancing through the books and papers that were scatter about it. Dennis walked past the glass wall, as he peered through it he spotted Serena and ran towards the doorway.  
  
"What're you doing in here?" he asked her, Serena looked up at him as she thought.  
  
"I have an idea..." Serena muttered, walking past Evy and Dennis, out of the library and down the hall, the other two followed.  
  
Quickly she turned down the corridor to her right, she then began to march down the stairs into the basement.  
  
"What, NO!" Dennis shuttered in shock as she lunged towards the glass wall separating the hallway from the staircase. "Why in the hell are you going down there!?!" he questioned as he beat on the glass, getting her attention.  
  
"Look..." Serena said, walking back up the steps some. "There has to be some kinda control room to this place, if we find it we can open the front door."  
  
Dennis slowly walked around the wall, standing between the middle of the glass divider, leaning on it slightly.  
  
"No, no... That's too risky..." He mumbled, shaking his head as he stared at her, a childlike look of fear on his face.  
  
"Then what do you suppose we do?" Serena asked, Evelyn just stood on the other side of the glass, silent.  
  
Serena stared at the terrified look of bewilderment on their faces, she then sighed as she tried to think up a way to get them to accompany her... deep down she was just as scared as they were, if not more.  
  
"We should be safe, I mean they are all locked up..." she mumbled, glancing down at the glass steps.  
  
"Yeah, and I'm sure with all the walls sliding around they're still locked away safe!" Evy said finally, disbelief sounding in her voice.  
  
"Fine, then we'll just wait for them to come to us!" Serena spat, Dennis and Evy looked at each other with worry.  
  
Dennis sighed with frustration and put on a pair of the viewers unwillingly.  
  
"Fine, get outa the way!" he whined, walking down the stairs drearily.  
  
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Slowly Dennis led them down the dark hallway, Evy wearing the viewers that he had handed her when they entered the basement, Serena wearing a pair she had brought with her... she was always prepared, but would she be for what lie ahead of them tonight?  
  
Dennis crept cautiously down the hall, sweat pouring down is face from stress and fear. Evy lurked closely behind him, hugging her arms as if she were cold despite the warm temperature in the house. Serena followed them faithfully, glancing around at the corridors, almost as paranoid as Dennis was, taking it all in curiously.  
  
"Can you see anything?" Evy whispered to him.  
  
"No, not yet..." he said softly, his voice was calm but it was easy to tell he was on pins and needles.  
  
The white handled switch flew up, the glass wall enclosing the Bound Woman slide back, releasing the spirit.  
  
Evy stayed close behind Dennis, so worried about him she forgot that Serena was even in the same house with them.  
  
The white lever flipped up baring the symbol of the Withered Lover, then the Torso... the glass walls began to move again.  
  
Dennis, Evelyn, and Serena looked around the hallway frantically as they heard the faint sound of the glass sliding, they knew what that sound meant, they had to hurry before the ghosts made it to them.  
  
"I don't like the sound of that!" Serena shuttered.  
  
"Lets just find this damn control room thingy!" Evy fussed.  
  
"Yeah, where is it?" Dennis asked Serena.  
  
"Well, the last time I was down here it was straight down this way." Serena stated, pointing to the left where there was a wall blocking the hallway that was once there. "But with all the sliding walls... things have changed!" she sighed in confusion.  
  
"How convenient, maybe you should have mentioned that before we came down here!" Dennis protested.  
  
"So we're side tracked a little..." Serena commented. "Its gonna be okay, we just gotta stick together and we'll make it outa here in one piece!"  
  
The severed halves of the lawyer Ben Moss laid slumped on the floor between the blood drenched glass wall behind him... the suitcase he had died for, broken in two and the money scattered among the glass block floor. Then suddenly the wall next to what was left of him slid to the left, opening the cube that wore the symbol of the Jackal.  
  
The mad cackling sounded down the hallways, but unfortunately the frightened trio was too busy being paranoid to concentrate and hear the ghostly laughter. Dennis pointed down the hallway in front of them, leading the two women further into the basement... and into the nightmare that awaited. 


	6. Behind Enemy Lines

"What are these doing open!?! I don't understand why they're open!" Dennis babbled nervously as he ran over to the Angry Princess' open containment cube, touching the Latin on the glass door.  
  
As Dennis turned around the ghost in the cube behind him lunged forward evilly, Dennis screamed with fright, jumping back uneasily, leaning against the glass wall behind him. The Hammer glared at Dennis and the two women with vengeance in his eyes.  
  
"God! I hate it when they do that!!!" Dennis shouted, squirming with tension in his voice.  
  
"Do what, what happened?" Evy asked concerned.  
  
"They wait for ya to stick your face right up against the glass... then they give ya a big fat BOO!" he said from behind Serena, scaring her.  
  
"Don't do that!" Serena scolded, peering in at the ghost. "Oh yeah, he looks pissed, let's go!" she demanded, trying to hurry them along.  
  
She made a pushing gesture towards Dennis, forcing him to move forward.  
  
"Don't touch me!" he muttered, still on edge from the scare.  
  
Serena and Evy pushed their way past Dennis, moving further along ahead of him. Dennis then gritted his teeth with anger from the situation, giving the Hammer the finger. The ghost disappeared from his view, but Dennis was then struck by something else...  
  
The golden blades of the machine twisted around the frightened figure of a woman, Dennis stood at the threshold of the sharp blades, as he leapt forward, almost willingly, the metal grinded furiously, blood dripping everywhere...  
  
Dennis stood in the dark hallway, almost dumbfounded as he watched the vision of his own demise helplessly, he was then snapped back to reality by the nagging shrieks of Evelyn and Serena, calling him away from the cube.  
  
The walls glided across the shimmering floors, the spells crossing one another in their surreal movements... relocating themselves in the innate patterns to which the house slowly evolved into a puzzle, one that was never meant to be solved.  
  
"Down here..." Dennis mumbled to them, pushing his way past the two women, unwillingly electing himself the leader of their small unorthodox brigade.  
  
They tiptoed down the dimly lit corridors, the intensity of their own paranoia biting at them as they listened to the faint gasps of their own potent breaths, heaving from fear and anticipation. Then suddenly, the group came to a halt, the reason for their delay was, at the moment, known only by the frantic leader... Dennis.  
  
"What's wrong?" Evy asked him frightened.  
  
"Shhh..." he hissed with worry.  
  
"What?" Serena pushed.  
  
"Shut up!" he uttered, his voice overwhelmed with stress. "Somehow..." he murmured, staring down as his head lowered slowly, "we got behind enemy lines..."  
  
Evy cautiously glanced in front of Dennis, her eyes widened at the sight of the seven-year-old terror which stood before the weary psychic, his bloody tomahawk raised towards the man defensively.  
  
"Oh shit." Evy whispered.  
  
"Ditto." Dennis sighed. "Hey there little guy, HOW!" he said, raising his hand in a befriending, yet absurd, gesture.  
  
The ghost vanished in a slight blink of the eye, Dennis and Evelyn relaxed from their tight behavior.  
  
"Now can we keep moving?" Serena asked nonchalantly, as if nothing dangerous lay ahead of them.  
  
"Lets go..." Dennis muttered in relief, Evy nodded and they began to move forward again.  
  
They walked faster then before now, almost running, trying to get to the control room as soon as possible... the ghosts were being released, and they were the bait.  
  
"Wait!" Dennis shuttered, stopping in his tracks as he passed the glass wall, running up to where the symbol was engraved. "That's the symbol of the Jackal!"  
  
All three of them stared in horror at the containment cube that was used to house the Jackal, it was wide open and empty.  
  
"We gotta get outa this basement!" Dennis shrieked, glancing above him and all around the hall frantically.  
  
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Short, but sweet... hopefully.  
  
Please don't patronize me about it... I wasn't planning on submitting this chapter until I had written the seventh to go with it... but things change, as I have so harshly found out, yet again, tonight.  
  
I wrote this chapter last night, as I beat my writer's block so triumphantly... but as I mentioned before... things change.  
  
I'm not in the mood to go into details, just please be decent and not mention the shortness in content, thank you.  
  
And if I don't get any good reviews telling me to continue, I won't.  
  
Personally I don't care if you ever read what happens to Dennis Rafkin and Evelyn Chase once locked inside a machine designed by the devil and powered by the dead! So if you wanna see who gets clawed by the Jackal in the next chapter, REVIEW DAMNIT!  
  
Once again, thank you...  
  
~ Jenna 


	7. Designed By The Devil

Author's Note:  
  
Okay, since you have all been so lenient to me in these desperate hours of mental contemplation... I shall fulfill my end of the bargain and deliver the seventh chapter...  
  
Thank you so much for your reviews, it truly means the world to me!  
  
*Begins to cry*  
  
You Like Me! You Really Like Me!!!  
  
*Crying slowly subsides*  
  
Okiddy... enough of that... I promised you a 'Jackal Clawing' good time, so without further ado, I give you the next chapter...  
  
*Red velvet curtains slowly draw back to reveal the next chapter*  
  
~ Maggie Roth (aka, Jenna the Jester *does crazy dance with bells hanging from her pigtails*)  
  
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"I am so ready to leave its not even funny!" Evy said with exhaustion as she hid behind Dennis.  
  
Slowly and cautiously he stuck is head out into the next hallway, leering back and forth as if he were looking for traffic before crossing a busy intersection.  
  
"Okay, let's go..." he muttered, gesturing with his hand for them to follow him.  
  
"Where are we going? I thought I told you the room was back that away!" Serena said demandingly, pointing behind them.  
  
"We're getting the hell outa this basement, its up to you to join us!" Evy snarled back, Serena only glared at her angrily.  
  
"Fine!" Serena spat, "You two leave, have fun being impaled upstairs!" she then turned around and marched off in the opposite direction, deeper into the basement.  
  
"What in the hell does she thinks she's gonna do? Bitch at the ghosts till they give up and leave her alone?" Dennis asked Evy with confusion.  
  
"I don't know..." Evy sighed, "and personally I don't care, let's go..." Evy pushed past Dennis, walking ahead of him down the hallway in search of the stairs.  
  
Dennis stood still for a moment, looking back at Serena, watching remorsefully as she slowly faded from his sight. He then turned towards Evy and followed her down the hall, leaving Serena to her own fate.  
  
*  
  
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*  
  
Evy walked ahead of Dennis as they slowly made their way down the hall.  
  
"Maybe we should have tried to stop her, I mean it is dangerous for her to be alone down here..." Dennis said with regret as he followed her.  
  
"God Dennis! Serena's a big girl she can take care of herself... frankly it's us I'm kinda worried about..." Evy mentioned with little compassion.  
  
As they walked along Dennis was suddenly struck to the ground, he fell to the glass floor, holding his head in agony.  
  
"Ahhh!" he shrilled in pain as Evy fell to his side with worry.  
  
"Oh my god! Dennis what is it?" she asked concerned.  
  
Dennis' head pounded in pain as he was bombarded with the violent flash of images. He watched the mix-matched pieces of the strange puzzle play out in his mind, then suddenly he realized what it was the ghost was fixated on harming, Evelyn.  
  
"Wha... watch... out..." Dennis muttered to Evy, stuttering out of breath.  
  
Evelyn stood up and slowly glanced around them, searching for whatever danger they were supposedly in, then she was hit with a vision of her own. She saw the rusted metal cage and the eyes glowing with fury, as she turned around the vision came to life, unfortunately Evy didn't know it had ended.  
  
The Jackal growled with rage as he lunged at the small brunette, sending her flying over Dennis and into the glass wall behind them. The ghost ripped at her flesh insanely as he pinned her against the wall in mid air. Dennis staggered to his feet as fast as he could charging over to the beast, then, suddenly in a flash of red light the ghost vanished, Dennis looked at the ground confused as to where the light was coming from, then he saw the smoking quicksilver flare at his feet.  
  
Evelyn fell to the ground almost unconscious as Dennis leapt to her aid, as he made it to her feet he heard another familiar voice calling to him, it was Kalina.  
  
"What the hell are you doing here!?! He screamed at her, despite the fact that she had just saved Evelyn's life.  
  
"Nevermind just pull her damnit!" Kalina shouted, grabbing onto Evy's left leg.  
  
Dennis did as he was told, grabbing onto her right leg, dragging her down the hallway. Evelyn then began to scream frantically, Dennis looked up and saw why, the Jackal was perusing them faster and faster, howling as he scurried after them madly.  
  
"Oh shit!" he shrieked, pulling her along with all his strength, Evelyn continued to scream wildly regardless to the fact that the viewers had slid off her face as they drug her.  
  
They turned down another corridor, just as they made it across the frame's threshold, the glass wall beside it slid shut, locking the Jackal out. Dennis collapsed on the floor, falling beside Evelyn as his chest heaved, trying to catch his breath, Evy glanced at him thankfully, then she passed out on the glass floor.  
  
"Is she okay?" he asked Kalina concerned.  
  
"She's still breathing if that's what you mean." Kalina said coldly, Dennis glared up at her angrily.  
  
He glanced over at the hallway they had just left, the Jackal clawed hysterically at the illuminated spells, then Dennis looked back at Kalina, the same vile emotion he had for the ghost glaring in his teal eyes as he stared at her.  
  
"What the fuck are you doing here?" he asked her frigidly.  
  
"Looks to me like I'm saving your ass!" she snarled back.  
  
"How did you get in here?"  
  
"I slipped through an opening in the house when it shifted."  
  
"An opening, where?" Dennis asked frantically, glancing around at the concealing walls.  
  
"Don't get your hopes up its closed now, its not going to happen again!" she spat, reaching in her satchel and pulling out a large, leather bound book. "Let me show you, this is the Arcanum," she said opening the book to the page which showed a sketched diagram of the house, "many people died in the quest for this book, it was written in the fifteenth century by an astrologer named Basileus, in it he describes the making of a certain machine. One that can see into the future, he wrote it while under demonic possession, I can't believe Cyrus built it!"  
  
"Built what, what the hell are you talking about?' Dennis asked confused.  
  
"Basileus' device, we are in the middle of a machine designed by the devil, and powered by the dead!"  
  
"Well... that just makes things ten times better!" he scoffed with exhaustion, falling back and laying flat against the glass floor next to Evy.  
  
"Ow!" Evelyn moaned suddenly as she shifted beside him in pain.  
  
"Are you okay?" Dennis asked her as he sprang up with worry.  
  
"It stings..." she murmured, touching her chest slightly then drawing back from pain.  
  
Dennis glanced at her chest, it was scratched and bleeding, her shirt was torn almost to shreds. He removed the viewers from his face and took of his dark gray sweater, he then helped Evy up into a sitting position and carefully slipped the sweater over her head and down her arms.  
  
Kalina glanced over at them as Dennis put his sweater on Evy, for a split moment she actually felt sorrow for them, but then her natural behavior began to kick back in.  
  
"Come on, we gotta get to the library, it has spell protection all around." She insisted, Dennis put his viewers on Evelyn and slowly helped her up to her feet. "Here, take these..." Kalina said, handing him another pair of glasses as she slung her satchel over her shoulder and picked up the book in the other hand. "Come on let's go!" 


	8. To Hell And Back

Author's Note:  
  
AHHHH! Damn FF.net!!! They are really starting to piss me off!  
  
*holds out a knife in a very "Jack" fashion*  
  
First they go and take forever updating their systems now they mess up all their formats just to confuse you! I should just pay them their stupid money and get it over with!!!  
  
*sighs*  
  
Okay... enough of that... now, where was I? Oh yes... the next chapter to a rather monotonous tale... lets recap shall we?  
  
Evy has just been clawed viciously by Hell's Winter, Dennis is two steps away from having a nervous break down, Kalina just appeared outa nowhere with the intentions of making things just a little more difficult for our psychic friends... and her sister is lost somewhere in the basement with a small army of violent and rather sadistic spirits on the loose who are just starving for a good kill... sounds like fun, doesn't it?  
  
Okiddy... lets head for the library, shall we?  
  
~ Genevieve (sounds better than Jenna, doesn't it?... I think so :-P)  
  
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"Should we tell her about Serena?" Dennis whispered to Evelyn as they cowered behind Kalina, following her to the stairs.  
  
"Lets wait till we're safe first..." Evy suggested.  
  
"Well that could take awhile!" he added.  
  
They made it to the end of the hallway, where they had first entered the basement, the stairs where nowhere to be found, in place of the staircase was now a glass wall.  
  
"Great, now what?" Dennis sighed with frustration, raising his hands up then dropping them to his sides.  
  
Kalina opened the leather bound book, searching for their location in the blue prints. As they stood by the glass barrier, suddenly the walls began to shift again.  
  
"Oh boy..." Dennis muttered with concern as he glanced above and around him.  
  
Slowly the walls slid inward, inclosing the small group in hopes to crush them. Kalina jumped backwards as the wall pushed against her, she bumped into Dennis, which sent him flying into a state of panic.  
  
"Ah! Don't touch me!" he shouted, Kalina seemed to be more interested in grabbing onto her book than his well being.  
  
Evy ran backwards to where the wall ended, out of the line of danger, but Dennis unstably fell to the side as Kalina recklessly pushed her way past him towards Evelyn. As he fell to the right Dennis found himself slowly being trapped inside a containment cube, as if he himself were part of Cyrus' collection.  
  
"Oh god! Dennis! Are you okay!?!" Evy shouted to him through the thick glass.  
  
Her shrills were muffled by the soundproof glass, all Dennis could make out was slight whispers of what she said, slowly he nodded. As he stared at Evy, Dennis noticed the sudden look of fright that came over her face, he turned just in time to see the chipped wood of the baseball bat swinging towards his head... the clear viewers flew off his face and shattered in a million pieces.  
  
"NO!!!" Evelyn screamed in horror as Dennis was struck down by the Torn Prince.  
  
Dennis whaled in pain as he fell to the floor, his head hemorrhaging and his vision blurry, all he could make out was faded screams of Evelyn as he staggered to his feet.  
  
"What, where?" he shouted in confusion to Evelyn as he slowly regained his sight.  
  
"Duck!" she cried, beating on the glass with tension.  
  
Dennis ducked down, missing the ghost's swing by less than an inch, quickly he scurried towards the glass wall as it slide open... Dennis somersaulted past the spell engraved barriers less than a second before the sharp glass wall slammed shut behind him, locking the Torn Prince in the cube alone.  
  
Dennis laid against the cold glass floor, staring up at the dimly lit ceiling over him in a daze.  
  
"Oh my god! Dennis!" Evy shrieked as she ran over to where he laid.  
  
She ran to his side, kneeling down to see if he was alright.  
  
"Dennis, are you okay!?!" she asked, he didn't respond, only stared up at the ceiling in a stupor.  
  
Dennis saw Evy above him, worry plastered on her face, she moved her lips but made no sound. Slowly Dennis drifted away from her, closing his eyes gradually as he drifted to another place and time...  
  
The doctors threw themselves forward, trying to subdue the teenage boy who beat them away frantically. He pounded his fists at the men in white coats, but the pain seemed to affect him more than them, he fell backwards, pushing his body away from them as much as he could.  
  
"Give me the needle!" one of them shouted to another.  
  
The orderly handed the doctor a syringe filled with a sedative, carefully he pointed it towards the arm of the boy who squirmed on the floor. Orderlies threw themselves upon the boy's limbs, preventing them from contorting as the doctor injected him with the tranquilizer.  
  
"DON"T TOUCH ME!!!" the boy screamed hysterically, slowly his screams faded as the sedative began to work, the orderlies backed away gradually at the sight of his sudden fatigue. "Don't touch me..." he muttered as his mind drifted away on the cold floor of the mental hospital.  
  
"Put him a padded room before he regains consciousness." The boy overheard the doctor say before slipping away completely.  
  
He awoke suddenly, the blinding white walls imprisoning him... they slowly began to close in on him, the boy jumped up and viciously clawed at the padding.  
  
"NO! LET ME OUT!" he screamed at the top of his lungs as he beat against the cushioned walls. "LET ME OUTA HERE!!!"  
  
The window on the door of his cell slid shut, blocking the doctor's view of him and his view of outside the room. The boy continued to pound violently on the walls of the padded room, despite that fact that no one was listening to his pleads.  
  
"My patient, Dennis Theodore Rafkin, is a highly imaginative and energetic boy who seems to be suffering from a mild case of delusionary schizophrenia accompanied by an extremely aggressive antisocial demeanor." The doctor told the man in the black suit as they walked down the hallway of the isolation ward together. "If he continues to lash out as a danger to himself and others we will be forced to reprehend him with a straightjacket." The doctor informed the man.  
  
"I'm sure he will become more timid as the years progress." The man in the black suit assured him.  
  
"Yes... but until then I'm afraid I cannot authorize his release, you do understand Mr. Kriticos?" the doctor asked.  
  
"Yes, I understand... until then..." the man muttered, disappointment sounding in his voice as he nodded.  
  
The boy began to give up as he slowly calmed down, tears running down his face as he collapsed on the padded floor of his new environment, all the while wondering what it was he had done to deserve such a cruel punishment...  
  
"Dennis..." the sweet voice of his mother called to him, slowly he saw her face, smiling at him lovingly. "Its time to wake up honey..."  
  
"Dennis!" Evy shouted, calling him back to reality. "Dennis, can you hear me? Wake up!"  
  
Gradually his eyes opened, trying to focus on what was in front of him.  
  
"Mom?" he murmured from a daze as he looked up at Evy's worried face.  
  
Evy smiled sadly, glad he was starting to come around.  
  
"Denny, it's me..." she whispered, leaning over him as she lifted his head off the floor lightly. "Do you know where you are?" she asked, trying to bring him back.  
  
"Hell..." he muttered, slowly trying to sit up.  
  
"Yeah, welcome back." She sighed, helping him up. "Here... take these." Evy said, taking off her viewers and hading them to him.  
  
Dennis put them on his face, moaning slightly in pain as the plastic touched the bleeding wound on the side of his head.  
  
"Come on..." Kalina rambled to them as she found their location in the book's blueprints. "I think I've found a way to the library from here."  
  
"Oh yeah, where?" Dennis asked her, rubbing his head despairingly.  
  
Kalina only looked up at the ceiling pensively, Evy and Dennis both followed her eyes upward, sighing fearfully.  
  
"Great!" he wheezed stressfully. "Just great!" 


	9. Headed For The Library

Kalina slid the heavy piece of glass above her aside, using the power cables on the walls as steps to climb up to the rather tall ceiling.  
  
"Give me the flare!" she demanded, Dennis reached his long arm up and handed her the smoldering flare. "Now give me the book!" Dennis did so.  
  
Evelyn glanced around them in fear, keeping watch for any dangers that lie ahead of them, thanks to the viewers Kalina handed her just before climbing up the wall like a monkey with a grudge. Dennis helped Kalina up through the floor, she then lifted herself onto the first level of the house.  
  
"Okay, you're next..." Dennis mumbled to Evy, pulling her towards the power box and cables.  
  
Evy kept her sights on the wall at the end of the hallway, where the Hammer watched them anxiously from behind the enchanted glass. She looked away from the ghost's stare as Dennis lifted her up onto the power box, allowing her to use it and the cables as a ladder. Kalina grabbed her arms from the other side of the glass and pulled her up onto the first floor.  
  
As soon as Evy made it onto the floor the house began to shift again, Dennis looked around the basement frantically, then he noticed the glass at the end of the hallway was starting to shift as well.  
  
"Oh shit!" he shrieked in horror, the Hammer only grinned evilly as the glass in front of him slide to the side. "Oh boy!" Dennis muttered to himself, quickly scurrying to climb up the wall as the ghost headed towards him. "Not that it matters... BUT HELP!!!" he shouted to the women above him.  
  
Evy reached down and helped pull him through the floor just as the Hammer swung for his legs, missing them by less than an inch.  
  
"Thank god!" he sighed, collapsing on the first floor, sweat and blood pouring down his face.  
  
"We gotta move down the hall we're gonna make a left then a right!" Kalina commanded them.  
  
"Now where are we going!?!" Dennis wheezed tiredly.  
  
"Just trust me, alright!" Kalina insisted, Dennis only nodded... what other choice did he have?  
  
*  
  
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They slowly made their way down the hallway, on pins and needles as they nervously glanced around the glass fortress in search of danger.  
  
"Come on! We have to move faster!" Kalina whined to them as they followed her unenthusiastically.  
  
Just as the tiny group gained speed, they were stopped again by Dennis grabbing his head in pain.  
  
"What is it?" Evy asked him concerned and worried at the same time, he didn't answer, only squinted his eyes in agony.  
  
As Evy stood at his side devotedly, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye, it was the Jackal, and he was gaining on them ferociously. Evy screamed as Dennis leaned up, looking over his shoulder at the beast behind him... but it was too late.  
  
The ghost lunged on him viscously, slamming him against the glass wall... Dennis fell to the floor as the spirit tore at his back violently.  
  
"Dennis! NO!!!" Evy screamed hysterically.  
  
The vengeful phantom raked his broken nails across the psychic's back, but then suddenly Dennis was thrown aside, out of the Jackal's grasp. Dennis slowly stopped whaling in pain as his eyes focused on what it was that had thrown him clear of the ghost... it was Serena, her dark brown hair flying in her face as she kicked and beat away the clawing beast that she apparently couldn't see.  
  
"Where is it!?!" she shouted to Dennis, who only pointed to her left... he was obviously of little help to the situation.  
  
"Here!" Evy shrieked to Serena, tossing her the viewers she wore.  
  
Serena quickly put them on, gasping as she glared at the Jackal who stood in front of her angrily.  
  
"I remember you..." she muttered, the Jackal only growl sinisterly. "You crazy son of a bitch!" she spat at him, the ghost became even more infuriated as he leapt at her.  
  
"Kalina! Give me the flare!!!" Dennis shouted, running towards her.  
  
He grabbed the flare, pitching the blazing stick down the hallway and onto the ripping beast, the Jackal disappeared in the flash of red light when the flare hit the ground.  
  
"Come on, we gotta go NOW!" Evy yelled to Serena, they took off running down the glass hallway.  
  
Dennis hobbled beside them, trying to keep up despite his wounds, Evy ran to his side... bracing him as they ran together.  
  
"Come on!" Kalina snarled at them.  
  
The Pilgrimess turned the corner, hatred in her pale eyes as she glared at the now somewhat larger group... then quickly began to give chase in hopes of obliterating them. Serena looked back, fearfully spotting the stocked ghost who now chased them.  
  
"Uh... we got company people!!!" she whined, the others looked back as well.  
  
The entire group shrieked as they ran faster, the Pilgrimess gained speed as well, she almost had them when Kalina slid back the glass barrier... allowing them to seek shelter in the library. The ghost roared in anger as Dennis slid the glass wall shut in her face, locking her out as she scratched slightly at the spells in anger, but there was no use. 


	10. The Black Zodiac

"I hate this job!" Dennis wailed as he leaned against the wall, his hands and forehead pressed against the glass.  
  
"They don't seem to like you either, I wonder why?" Kalina smarted as she removed things from her satchel.  
  
Dennis tiredly walked over to the table in the middle of the library where the three women were, throwing his viewers on the table.  
  
"You got something to say, say it." He stated to her, walking back to lean against the glass wall again.  
  
"Fine, then lets start with THIS ALL YOUR GODDAMN FAULT!!!" Kalina shouted at him in anger, Dennis only glanced back at her oddly. "If you hadn't caught them we wouldn't be running from them now would we!"  
  
"Its Cyrus who built the damn house!" Dennis yelled back agitated.  
  
"Yeah, but you helped him! How could you help him without knowing what he was doing!" she spat back.  
  
Dennis leaned down, resting his hands on his knees exhausted.  
  
"I had my reasons." He said candidly, staring up at her with a dark look in his eyes.  
  
"Money you parasite! You stole people souls for money! How depraved is that?"  
  
"In case you haven't noticed I'M A LITTLE BIT OF A FREAK!!!" he screamed back, Kalina only glared at him. "I come within ten feet of anything dead I go into seizers! I touch someone, and a whole life full of shit flashes in front of my eyes! So yeah, I'm depraved!" he finished, flopping down in the nearest chair out of breath.  
  
"That's still no excuse for what you did!" Kalina fussed, being interrupted by Evy.  
  
"Back the fuck off him!" Evelyn shouted to her, anger in her sapphire eyes, Kalina fell silent.  
  
Dennis quickly distracted his attention towards Evy, then back to the floor sadly.  
  
"Its my fault..." Serena mumbled from the corner of the library.  
  
"What?" Evy asked her confused.  
  
"I was the one that helped Cyrus find the ghosts..." she muttered feeling guilty. "He found out where and who... I'd track them down to their exact last location, only catch was once we found it... it was kinda hard to find out where the ghost were literally last located... so Cyrus suggested the assistance of ESP."  
  
Dennis and Evy looked at each other pensively.  
  
"What about Henry, what did he do?" Evy asked apprehensively.  
  
"Its not what he did... its what his father did..." Serena sighed. "Henry's father owned some glass company..."  
  
"Glass company?" Dennis questioned puzzled.  
  
"About fifteen years ago Henry's father discovered that he had created a special type of glass... one that could actually see into the spiritual realm. No one believed him of course, except one person, the same person who tried to buy out his company and take it over for his own reasons..." Serena babbled.  
  
"Let me guess... Cyrus!" Dennis sighed, Serena nodded.  
  
"But Henry's father refused to sell, less then a year later he died... leaving everything to Henry, including the company. So Cyrus took Henry under his wing, pretty much taking over the company since Henry had no idea how to run a glass factory!" she told them.  
  
"Figures..." Evy mumbled, standing over Dennis, examining the scratches on his back.  
  
"Yeah, sounds just like Cyrus! Deceitful as ever... Ah!" Dennis said, moaning in pain as Evy touched the bloody shredded cotton that made up the back of his shirt.  
  
"Sorry..." Evy whispered to him.  
  
"About a year after that the company name was changed from The Morris Corp. to Ocu-Sight Inc. thanks to Mr. Kriticos!" She explained with attitude towards Cyrus. "He put that stupid symbol on everything!" she cussed, pointing to the circular symbol on the cover of the large leather bound book Kalina held with all her might. "All the vans, all the equipment, then decided he wanted to use the rest of the glass in the factory as containment cubes for the ghosts because of its strength and durability. So then he called Damon to get the spells."  
  
Kalina looked down sadly at the mention of Damon's name.  
  
"Damon, that guy Kalina was with when we..." Evy began.  
  
"Yes, he was the one that had the Arcanum, it was passed down through the generations in his family, but turns out he needed some help with deciphering some of the Latin." Kalina stated, interrupting Evy. "He was killed at the junkyard with Cyrus..." she said almost heartfelt, the other three became silent.  
  
"Goddamnit!" Serena shouted with tension, breaking the moment of silence. "I should have known this would happen, I should have never came within three feet of that Ben Moss fucker! Figures he would lead us here!"  
  
"You knew him before tonight?" Dennis asked tiredly.  
  
"Well..." she trailed off. "He wasn't just Cyrus' lawyer, he was also his spokesperson for the business..." she muttered feeling a little ashamed for not telling them sooner.  
  
"Just perfect, anything else you've neglected to tell us?" Evy spat as she walked towards the table, Serena slowly shook her head no.  
  
"If you don't mind, I have something to tell you!" Kalina smarted with impatience.  
  
Dennis held out his hand in a 'please continue' gesture.  
  
"This house is not a house..." she started, sitting down at the table. "It is a machine. It is a complete and faithful recreation of Basileus' design! According to this there should be twelve earthbound spirits trapped inside." She lectured, opening the book in front of her. "See these, they represent the Black Zodiac, they represent the ghosts that Cyrus needed to catch." She flipped to the pages of the Black Zodiac...  
  
"The First Born Son, The Torso, The Bound Woman, The Withered Lover, The Torn Prince, The Angry Princess, The Pilgrimess, The Great Child and The Dire Mother, The Hammer, and here the sign of Hell's Winter The Jackal, and the Juggernaut. According to Basileus the machine required the energy of these specific spirits in order to bring it to life. Once it engages the spirits are released one by one, the house then draws them to its center. Each one adds its energy to the machine, powering it up!" Kalina explained.  
  
"Powering it up for what?" Dennis asked curiously.  
  
"To open the Ocularis Infurnum." She answered.  
  
"The Ocularis, what is that?" Evy asked.  
  
"Its Latin..." Serena muttered, trying to translate the word. "The Eye of Hell..." she said drearily.  
  
"Sounds cozy..." Dennis mumbled to himself bleakly.  
  
"In hell there is an eye that sees everything, the past and the future, the heaven and earth, the blessed and the damned." Kalina continued. "If knowledge is power, then the man that controls the Ocularis would be the most powerful man on earth... Cyrus."  
  
Dennis groaned in aggravation as Evy only shook her head.  
  
"How many ghosts have been released so far?" Serena asked her sister hopelessly.  
  
"Eleven, and the house needs twelve." she answered. "In order to stop the process the house needs a sacrifice of life instead of death, a willing human sacrifice. The sacrifice of The Broken Heart, the only ghost to be created out of an act of pure love."  
  
"So whose the thirteenth ghost?" Evy asked confused, Kalina looked over at Dennis consciously.  
  
Dennis knew what her look meant, sadly he hung his head.  
  
"You're the Thirteenth Ghost..." Serena stated as she looked at Dennis remorsefully.  
  
"No... no..." Evy muttered redundantly. "It can't be Dennis... NO!" she demanded, denying their allegations.  
  
"Love is the most powerful energy... the thirteenth spirit stands before the eye at the final configuration, as the eye opens the spirit uses the power of life to essentially short circuit the system." Kalina informed them.  
  
"How?" Serena asked.  
  
"By leaping into the eye."  
  
"What? NO WAY!" Evy exclaimed in shock. "I mean why would he need to... Dennis is not going to leap into any eye of hell for no apparent reason what so ever!!! This is insane, and I won't listen to it... so think up another plan!" she protested.  
  
"She's right, I mean there's gotta be a better way!" Dennis added, walking over to the table and picking up the large book. "I don't read Latin!" he whined as he thumbed through its old pages.  
  
"Well can try it the old fashion way, my personal favorite!" Kalina complained as she emptied the contents of her satchel, dynamite and explosives fell onto the table. "Nobody's gonna be here to brag about it afterwards! Whatever we decide we gotta come up with a game plan soon cuz time's running out!"  
  
"What? You're gonna blow the place up!?!" Evy questioned distressfully.  
  
"The last ghost is about to be released!" she answered smugly.  
  
"What're we gonna do?" Evy whispered to herself, Dennis looked up at her, frowning at the sight of her worrying.  
  
"Its gonna be okay..." he assured her, walking over and hugging her tightly. "Besides, I've been looking for a reason to like myself for a long time!" he said lightly.  
  
"That's not funny!" she muttered seriously, her head resting on his shoulder.  
  
"Don't worry... I think I got a plan." He whispered in her ear, Evy looked at him curiously. 


	11. Not Now

Author's Note:  
  
All right... it's getting near the end here kiddies...  
  
Near the end of both my sanity (what few crumbs I have left) and the second series of my beloved Thir13en Ghosts fic...  
  
I think I'm gonna cry...  
  
*Stops chattering to wipe away the tears and obnoxiously blow her nose*  
  
Okay, I'm better... On with the sappiness, and maybe a little gore if you're all good little freaks!  
  
P.S. Go rent Ghost Ship, its made by the same peeps that made Thir13en Ghosts (by that I mean Silver, Adler, Zemerickis, and Beck... not to mention my beloved KNB EXF Inc.) and all I have to say about it is... Steve Beck finally did a good job with a Dark Castle flick!!!  
  
Not That Thir13en Ghosts was bad... just not enough gore, Shannon Elizabeth being mauled to death, or Matthew Lillard's charrie actually getting to make it outa the film with a pulse! But I'm not bitter or anything... not anymore...  
  
*Cackles evilly then begins to cough violently*  
  
Eww... hairball...  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
"You got about 10 minutes till the ectoplasmic shit hits the fan!" Kalina informed them as she slid back the glass, throwing her satchel over her shoulder.  
  
"Alright, come on Evy..." Dennis muttered with distraction as he carefully observed the empty hallways before them.  
  
"Uh... maybe Evy should go to the basement with me..." Kalina staggered to say as she looked the other three over nervously.  
  
"Why?" Dennis asked, turning his attention away from the halls to Kalina.  
  
"Well..." she thought hard for an explanation. "One psychic per Oretzia..." she uttered back, Dennis only paused for a moment to think.  
  
"Okay..." He responded half heartedly, looking over at Evelyn who shook her head disputingly.  
  
"No." She whispered miserably as she stared up at him, her arms folded across her shoulders tightly.  
  
"Look, it'll be okay..." he assured her as he wiped away the dried tears on her pale cheeks. "I wouldn't lie to you, not now." He sincerely reassured as he held her.  
  
Serena only stood inside the library, silent as she watched their affection for each other, slowly she felt the cold chill of loneliness and despair tugging at her invisibly.  
  
"Come on!" Kalina then demanded, breaking the silence between them.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
Dennis and Serena crept down the hallway, glancing around cautiously as they headed towards the main room in the center of the first floor.  
  
Kalina jumped down through the floor back into the basement, laying her last burning flare on the glass floor as she helped Evelyn down through the ceiling.  
  
"Can I ask you a really stupid question that has been plaguing me for the past ten minutes?" Dennis mumbled to Serena as they tiptoed around the corner.  
  
"Sure, why not?" she answered with dismay from behind him.  
  
"What happened to your glasses?" he asked her while looking around the corner vigilantly.  
  
"What?" Serena questioned back in confusion.  
  
"Remember? When me and Evy left you in the basement you had your own viewers... then when you tried to stop the Jackal from clawing me Evy had to throw you her glasses, you didn't have any remember?" he babbled to her nervously as he fidgeted down the hallway.  
  
"I, uh..." Serena muttered as she tried to remember how she lost her viewers in the basement. "I... I dropped them downstairs..." she said with detachment.  
  
"How?" Dennis asked just as distracted as before.  
  
"We're trapped in the middle of a fucking hell machine and all you can think to do is bug me about how I lost my glasses after being scared half to death by the ghost of my dead fiancé in the basement!?!" Serena shouted back quickly in anger and frustration.  
  
"What!" Dennis shrieked back in shock and confusion, trying to make sense of what she had just rambled to him.  
  
Serena fell silent as tears began to well up in her eyes.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
"There it is up ahead!" Evy noted with relief as she walked ahead of Kalina towards the spinning contraption that was barely visible through the many pieces of glass.  
  
She then came to a complete stop in the middle of the dimly lit corridor. Kalina glanced in the direction of where Evelyn's horrified expression led, what she saw made her gasp.  
  
"Is that the lawyer?" Evy asked palely, Kalina only looked away, back towards their destination.  
  
"Come on." Kalina uttered as she gave Evy a slight push forward, the two then continued down the hallway.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
"Why don't cha run that one by me one more time a little slower?" Dennis said in confusion to the woman behind him.  
  
Serena only wiped away the few tears that remained on her cheeks silently.  
  
Dennis was now facing her, for a moment he had actually forgotten where he was.  
  
"At least tell me what happened... did he say anything?" he asked again more compassionately, realizing he wasn't going to get a response out of her.  
  
"I don't know..." she muttered jadedly. "Something about how I couldn't give up, that the future needed me and her... I mean who the hell is 'her' anyway?" she began to babble. "GOD! Henry was always like that! Never saying anything until it was too late... it's that whole 'English manner' thing!" she exclaimed angrily through her sadness.  
  
"I can see that..." Dennis answered quietly.  
  
"Anyhow, I got freaked... threw down the glasses and ran, luckily I ended up finding the stairs and you... being mauled to death..." she added as Dennis nodded.  
  
Serena thought to herself about what had happened, suddenly she began to chuckle.  
  
"What?" Dennis questioned, looking around for whatever had made her laugh.  
  
"I'm sorry..." she muttered through her laughter, which was much stronger now. "It's just... seeing you... on the floor... and nobody was there..." she then busted out into hysterical laughter.  
  
"What!" Dennis stated in offense. "You found it funny that I was being ripped to shreds?"  
  
"Only when I look back on it now." She commented as she struggled to regain her sanity.  
  
"Well that just makes me feel a whole lot better!" he shrieked bleakly with sarcasm.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
"Hurry up, after seeing ol' Mr. Moss again I'm looking forward to leaving this death trap even more... if that's even possible." Evy said to Kalina nervously.  
  
"Don't worry, you'll be leaving very soon." She said under her breath as she bent down to press the metallic button at her feet, suddenly the two glass doors slid open in front of them.  
  
Kalina stood in awe at the sight of the mighty machine, twisting even more violently than before. The two women entered the room cautiously, Kalina clutching the Arcanum to her chest for dear life as Evelyn tiptoed behind her in fear.  
  
"Here, take this." Kalina demanded as she handed Evy the flare before dashing over to the small desk that sat to their left.  
  
"Only Cyrus would choose this room the fill out paperwork." Evy mumbled to herself as she stared at the desk.  
  
She then distracted her attention away from Kalina, Evy glanced back at the open doorway behind her...  
  
"Oh shit!" Evelyn gasped in horror at what she saw coming towards her, the nearly decapitated ghost of Cyrus Kriticos.  
  
The ghost smirked evilly at the brunette who then threw the quicksilver flare at his feet, much to her surprise he only stepped over it calmly as if it were a twig.  
  
"Kalina!" Evy cried to the woman for help.  
  
Kalina's face then grew to resemble that of the dreaded phantom that now moved towards them slowly, his silver handled cane still clasped to his right hand as it was in life.  
  
Evy slowly crept backwards as her heart raced at the mere sight of her former employer moving closer towards her. Kalina then removed her spectral viewers, the smirk etched on her crooked face as she glared at the ghost, she then viscously aimed the heavy leather bound book at the brunette in front of her's head.  
  
"Ahh!" Evelyn managed to gasp as she fell to the ground unconscious. 


	12. Powered By The Dead

Author's Note:  
  
I fear that this is the last A/N for this series... yes sad but true.  
  
I am sending this to you few loyal readers that I have left by way of my friend Samantha's computer... lets all thank her for being the best friend a Borehamwood Asylum escapee like myself could have in this day and age...  
  
Not to mention the Louisville Free Public Library for allowing a freak like me to have a library card and R&R fanfiction every chance I get...  
  
So I was out yesterday with my dad (apartment hunting) when it hit me... I haven't finished that damn Thir13en Ghost story!!! So I came straight home (after buying the DVD of Scooby-Doo that is) and began to write on the last two chapters...  
  
Its weird, I haven't written on this fic for almost four long months... and here I am... completing an entire series again... makes ya feel nostalgic don't it?  
  
Anyhow, please review... it's the only thing I look forward to every time I walk my lazy ass across the city in the 80 degree heat to check email... so please... for the sake of me future heat stroke... PLEASE REVIEW!  
  
Or I won't give you a third series to look forward to!  
  
"I thought you told the reviewers you were going to write the third series?" asks the gray tabby cat on her lap with attitude and suspicion.  
  
(To the cat)  
  
I lied! I like to lie... it makes me feel all tingly inside...  
  
"It makes me really want to kick your ass!" mutters the cat in disgust.  
  
(Throws the cat off her lap)  
  
*thud*  
  
"Meow!"  
  
Enough of that Alice In Wonderland crap!  
  
(Back to the A/N)  
  
Anyhow!  
  
If everyone reads and reviews there will be a nice and gorific little third part to the series to drool over... only catch is it might take a little longer to write and submit than that of the other stories I have written on fanfic.net... okay?  
  
Don't blame me for the delay of my chapters... blame writer's block, no inspiration, and that damn Bellsouth phone company!!!  
  
Whoa... I'm writing way too much for an author's note... better speed it up a bit...  
  
So on that last note, have fun... R&R... and please come again!  
  
~ Jenna Rose (aka Magdalena Iris Roth)  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
"Don't laugh at me." Dennis said to Serena in a slightly more serious tone.  
  
Serena smiled sadly at him as she grew silent again.  
  
There was an awkward moment of silence between them that was quickly shattered by a sound that made both of their hearts beat wildly with fear, the house's walls were shifting yet again... now for the last time.  
  
"Not again!" Dennis moaned tiredly at the sound of the glass cascading from side to side.  
  
"We gotta get outa here, fast!" Serena replied as she glanced around at the walls nervously.  
  
"I'm with you!" Dennis added, he then began to run down the hallway quickly in search of an entrance to the large room at the center of the first floor.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
Cyrus grinned cleverly at Kalina who only returned the expression, she then lustfully thrust her lips against his in hope of the same recognition, but it was forcefully rejected as he pushed her way from him bitterly.  
  
"Where is it! Where is it!" Cyrus angrily sneered as he belligerently flipped through the crisp pages of the book. "Kalina!?!" he snarled as he turned his attention on the woman now huddled in the chair by his desk.  
  
"Why are you so mad at me? I did everything you asked me to... I killed Damon, I stole his spells!" she rambled nervously in defense.  
  
"Kalina!?!" Cyrus called out again.  
  
"I even made sure those pathetic psychics didn't get themselves killed!" she continued.  
  
"Kalina! Where are the spells?" he asked while flipping to the back of the book to where an imprint was made.  
  
She then quickly rummaged through her satchel and held up the small tape cans which contained the needed spells, Cyrus sighed as he snatched them from her rudely.  
  
"You're not mad at me are you?" she asked eagerly, Cyrus paused to glance at her.  
  
"Of course not." He said with a faint smile, Kalina smiled back in relief.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
"There is it!!!" Dennis shouted with excitement as he jumped up and down pointing at the open doorway on the other side of the room.  
  
"Great. Now how to we get there?" Serena asked unenthusiastically.  
  
Just then the glass wall blocking their way to the entrance slid to the side, the two stared at it in disbelief.  
  
"Thank you!" Dennis sighed as he looked up at the ceiling gratefully.  
  
"Come on, let's go!" Serena said impatiently as she nudged him to move forward.  
  
They rushed towards the end of the hallway, Dennis turned the corner quickly then came to halt which sent Serena falling back against the wall behind them.  
  
"Oh my god!" Dennis exclaimed as he stared ahead in shock.  
  
"What?" Serena muttered as she looked up. "Oh shit!" she mumbled in terror, at the opposite end of the hallway across from them stood the Hammer.  
  
The ghost charged towards the two viscously, his hammer raised, ready to strike at any moment.  
  
They both screamed at the same time, cringing at the sight of the massive spectre who swung his giant blacksmithing hammer at Dennis' head.  
  
Dennis quickly ducked, sliding down to the floor, the ghost then thrust his hammer down to crush the man, but he missed as Dennis hurriedly scuttled out from under the Hammer's aim.  
  
"Dennis!" Serena screamed in fear as she hid in the corner as Dennis slid away behind the ghost.  
  
The Hammer then noticed the woman cowering in the corner, he raised his arm and aimed it towards her. Serena ducked down just as the hammer smashed against the glass behind her, sending a shower of sparks on top of her head as she cringed on the floor beneath him.  
  
The Juggernaut tilted his glance towards the glass doorway to his cell which slid to the side releasing him.  
  
"Oh god!" Serena managed to gasp at the sight of the Juggernaut's release before she was forced to scurry to the side to avert the Hammer's thrust.  
  
Dennis pulled her up of the floor quickly before either of the ghost realized she was missing.  
  
"Urgh!" Dennis shrieked at the flash of painful images that poured before his eyes, but this was no time for visions, he grabbed his head and shook the thoughts away.  
  
Dennis and Serena slowly backed away from the two spirits who were now working together to successfully destroy those who were responsible for their capture. The Juggernaut stepped forward, tightened his fists as he moved towards them, Serena and Dennis eased back in fear awaiting what looked to be their last painful moments.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
"Now what? Dennis is convinced that sacrificing himself is the right thing to do, but I don't think he'll do it unless the woman he loves is in jeopardy." Kalina informed Cyrus as he placed the spells onto the tape player.  
  
"So, put her in jeopardy!" he demanded.  
  
"What about my sister?" Kalina asked suddenly.  
  
Cyrus turned towards her blankly.  
  
"What about her?" he asked coldly.  
  
"But she's my sister..." Kalina muttered with sympathy.  
  
"Greatness requires sacrifice!" Cyrus stated cruelly. "Now I have a job to do, and so have you." He said to Kalina as he touched her chin almost lovingly. "Do it... DO IT!" he shouted at her persistently.  
  
"Yes." Kalina whispered with a weak smile, she then rushed off at his command.  
  
"And now, to finish this..." Cyrus muttered as he pressed the play button on the player.  
  
The tape spun slowly in the machine as the sound echoed from it, filling the room with its tenacious chant. 


	13. Silent Heart

***********  
  
Silent Heart  
  
***********  
  
Throughout every floor in the house the chanting was heard, the Latin called to each of the tormented souls that were imprisoned within its walls, drawing them to its center.  
  
The Juggernaut slowly recoiled, as did the Hammer, all the while Dennis and Serena stood in confusion and terror as the two vengeful wraiths disappeared from their sight.  
  
The Latin persisted, as did the disappearances, slowly but surely every spectral being in the entire structure dissipated in evanescence... but to where?  
  
Dennis paused in bewilderment, he took off his viewers and rubbed his eyes as he leaned against a nearby wall. Just then something caught his attention, he glanced over at the center room, the spinning rings on the floor had vanished in the middle, and were now reappearing, and Evy was trapped in the middle.  
  
"Evelyn?" Dennis muttered in disbelief.  
  
The rings which spun around her now violently lifted from the floor, twisting and grinding in mid air, spinning so fast you could hardly see them move. The razor sharp rings formed around her cowering figure like a huge gyroscope, encaging her to where she could barely move without being sliced to bits.  
  
"Oh god, Evelyn!" Dennis shrieked as he ran to the entrance of the room.  
  
Serena stared through the glass in astonishment at the spinning blades, she then remembered something crucial.  
  
"The basement." Serena mumbled to herself, she then ran around the corner in the opposite direction in search of the stairs.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
"Fetch the book!" Cyrus called to Kalina as he made his way outside the room towards the center of the house.  
  
Kalina turned voluntarily to where the Arcanum rest in the chair, she picked it up and followed Cyrus. Just as she caught up with him suddenly the glass divider between them slammed shut, trapping her in the narrow corridor.  
  
"Cyrus!" she cried to him for help, she then noticed that his hand was on the lever that closed the divider on her. "Cyrus!" she called again, now more in dismay than in need. "What are you doing!?!"  
  
"You just can't teach some people..." Cyrus sadistically implied as he began to step away from where she was trapped.  
  
"Cyrus!!!" Kalina now screamed in horror as the glass walls beside her began to move inward.  
  
"I thought I told you, greatness requires sacrifice!" Cyrus pontificated as the frightened woman pushed at the walls frantically, using the book that was clutched in her shaking hands to push the pieces of glass back.  
  
But no matter how hard she pushed against the glass it continued to close in on her until it was too late.  
  
"Cyrus!!!" she cried out for her life one last time as the heavy pieces of glass enclosed around her, slowly crushing the life out of her trembling body as the Arcanum slid to the floor next to her broken form.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
"Dennis!!!" Evelyn screamed, her terrified voice barely audible through the loud grinding of the blades and chanting of Latin that surrounded her.  
  
"Evy! Hold on!" Dennis shouted back in response, his mind on overload as he desperately tried to think up a plan.  
  
He then remembered the glasses in his hand. Dennis put the viewers on quickly, he gasped at the sight of all twelve earth bound spirits circling the spinning rings which twirled around Evelyn.  
  
His mouth opened slightly as he stared at the ghosts' orchestrated design around the center of the room, for the first time in his life, Dennis was utterly speechless.  
  
A surge of images rushed to his head, Dennis retreated in pain, as he turned his wounded head to the right he noticed something at the end of the hallway next to him... it was Cyrus Kriticos.  
  
Dennis stared in disbelief as Cyrus stood at the end of the hallway proudly, his cane gripped in his hand as if it were a weapon, then he remembered something Kalina had mentioned earlier in the library.  
  
Dennis turned back towards the large room where the ghosts circled Evelyn, slowly he began to count as they passed by him on the spinning rings they hovered above.  
  
"One, two, three, four..." he muttered as each spirit passed by, Kalina's voice calling off the names in his head. "Five, six, seven..." he mumbled as the Torn Prince, the Angry Princess, and the Pilgrimess spun past him. "Eight, nine, ten, eleven... twelve..." he uttered, pausing after the Juggernaut passed, Cyrus was beginning to become annoyed. "And if I'm the thirteenth..." Dennis began to say, he then looked back at Cyrus.  
  
Cyrus tensed as he slowly removed his viewers... Dennis then understood, Cyrus wasn't dead.  
  
"You son of a bitch!" Dennis shrieked in anger as he lunged for him.  
  
Dennis slammed his fist into Cyrus' face, too upset and angry to realize that he had touched him. They both fell to floor in pain, Dennis grabbed his throbbing skull in agony as Cyrus regained himself, he now stood over Dennis, towering above him with his cane pointing down in a threatening motion.  
  
"You're pathetic!" Cyrus nagged cruelly as he smacked the cringing man with his cane. "Years I have dedicated to this! Every waking moment!" he shouted viscously, now beating the psychic even harder. "Have you ever showed that kind of dedication? Have you! The world has no time for little people like you, only those willing to do anything for greatness, anything!" Cyrus shouted, Dennis only moaned in pain as he thrust the end of the cane into his shoulder.  
  
Dennis grabbed onto the end of the cane in hopes to pull it away from Cyrus, but when he did only the bottom came back, revealing that the cane was also a sword-like weapon. Dennis leaned back farther, his back completely against the glass wall behind him now as Cyrus pushed the long blade closer to his neck, almost cutting him.  
  
"The machine requires a ghost to be created out of an act of pure love, and after seeing your childish feelings for Ms. Chase I knew you would be stupid enough to take the spot under the guillotine! Its sad really, spending you whole life a freak, never being able to touch someone without going into a seizure, its quite fortunate that she happened to except the offer to help me in my search... fortunate for me that is... it seems that she is your only real weakness, so I used that to my advantage!" Cyrus harshly explained to the now furious Dennis Rafkin who had to grit his teeth to keep himself from leaping forward. "It will be a small sacrifice, only two dismal lives for me to achieve such greatness... congratulations Dennis, you get to become the Thirteenth Ghost, now get on your feet!" Cyrus demanded as he tightened his grip on the weapon.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
Serena's glance jumped from one switch to the next, from one button to the other all with one agenda in mind, stop the machine. She first decided to do something about the annoying spells, which blasted in her ears, clouding her train of thought. She pressed almost every button on the tape machine, the chanting speeded up then slowed down to a crawl just to speed back up again involuntarily when finally she just gave up and ripped the tape from the machine violently.  
  
The next step was to open some doors, Serena flipped every switch she could lay her hands on, muttering in aggravation to herself the whole time.  
  
"Dumb ass machine... stupid Cyrus!" she mumbled in irritation while lowering as many levers as she could.  
  
The doors in the house slid from side to side, opening suddenly just to close again at the same speed. Unwillingly the glass glided across the block floors, making as many exits from each cell that could possibly be made.  
  
The machine spun violently out of control now, grinding one way, spitting gears another, Serena turned towards the massive metal mechanism, her eyes filled with fear and surprise at the sight of what her lever flipping had caused it to become... a giant contorting time bomb just waiting to go off.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
Cyrus stopped dead in his tracks as the chanting began to continuously change speed then disappear completely from the speakers, he looked around in confusion as to how his master plan could allow such a glitch to occur.  
  
"Ya know..." Dennis said calmly from the floor beneath him. "This whole obsession with greatness you have is very unhealthy." He stated confidently, Cyrus only glanced down at him even more puzzled than before.  
  
Dennis then out of nowhere kicked Cyrus to the floor beside him, the man hit his head on the glass block flooring and collapsed incoherently in an outstretched heap on the floor.  
  
"You need more mental help than I do!" Dennis sighed as he struggled to regain his breath and knowledge of what was happening.  
  
The twelve spirits broke from alignment as Dennis fumbled to find his viewers, then suddenly Cyrus' body began to levitate in midair by an unseen force or forces. Cyrus shook his head quickly, coming to as he was raised into the air by his invisible captors, Dennis grabbed the glasses from the floor and threw them on his face as fast as he could. He then gazed speechlessly as the man was moved towards the spinning blades by the twelve vengeful ghosts who carried Cyrus in anger through the room. They then slung his struggling form towards the rings that were now contorting uncontrollably, Cyrus screamed in terror as he flew into the twisting razor sharp metal to his final death.  
  
Dennis quickly turned his head to the right in hopes to avoid as much blood splatter as possible. His eyes were shut tight, from fear... relief, then suddenly something made him open them, he didn't know what it was at first but he soon realized it was a sigh.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
The machine spun uncontrollably to the right, then to the left, emitting cogs and screws at every grinding turn. Serena cringed as she stared at the large malfunctioning heap of metal, her eyes widening with every gyrating twist.  
  
"Oh shit." She mumbled in fear and anticipation. "Now what?" she then muttered hopelessly while awaiting the contraption's demise.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
"I figured it would come to this..." said the small blonde who now leaned comfortably against the metal brace across from him. "The others have been planning it for months!" she explained with a subtle sigh while staring at her best friend's frightened figure amiss the winding blades. "Its sad really... I mean we have so little to look forward to anymore..." she said sadly, yet not allowing one shred of emotion to show on her timid facial features.  
  
"Alex?" Dennis quietly whispered in confusion, she said nothing in return, only smiled angelically.  
  
Dennis stared at her figure in disbelief, removing his glasses from in front of his eyes, she disappeared, he then slipped them back to where they were before, she reappeared. His eyes trailed from her face to her feet, his mouth open slightly with astonishment, Dennis' teal eyes then landed on the bloody gash upon her abdomen, he kept his gaze there for a moment.  
  
"Are you looking at my cut?" she asked abruptly with sarcasm and suspicion in her tranquil voice, Dennis quickly looked away in awkwardness. "Ah, don't feel bad... I couldn't quit staring at it either the first time I realized it was there." She muttered while looking down at her shirt as if she had spilt ketchup on it only seconds ago.  
  
"I'm sorry." He whispered as if it would wash away the blood.  
  
"Please..." she said with a kind chuckle. "That's all I've had to hear for the past, what has it been, two months, three... anyway that's all Dana says to herself 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry' not to me though... I've grown to learn she only thinks of herself, if she can even think anymore!" Alex told him, her voice now starting to fill with regret.  
  
Dennis slowly understood that Alex had been trapped in the same cell as the Angry Princess, his heart began to sink at the thought of her having to spend all this time locked away with her killer in silence.  
  
"Don't feel sorry for me, I'm not the one who needs your compassion..." she muttered again gently in her own universe. "Tell Evy I love her..." she said finally after a long pause. "And that I'm sorry I'm gonna miss out on being her Lamaze partner." She smiled as she looked over at him for the first time, glancing at him with sympathy and benevolence in her glistening eyes.  
  
"What?" Dennis questioned innocently, now more confused than ever before.  
  
"You'll figure it out, now go to her..." she answered meticulously. "She needs you."  
  
With that in mind Dennis nodded to her in understanding as he rose to his feet and moved towards the open doorway, throwing his viewers aside.  
  
"And so do I..." Alex said to herself as she watched him step up to the spinning rings gallantly.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
The machine gave its last turn as the smoke began to rush from its insides, breaking down slowly as it maliciously grinded against itself.  
  
"Oh god!" Serena gasped as she retreated from the room as fast as her legs could carry her.  
  
She dove through the doorway just as the metal unhinged itself and combusted chaotically in a cloud of smoke. The glass began to shatter throughout every corridor and entranceway that the house could muster, shrouds of broken glass covered every inch of the basement as the shattering continued in the upper levels of the now broken skeleton that was once a confiding prison.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
The golden blades of the machine twisted around the frightened female figure, Dennis stood at the threshold of the sharp blades, as he leapt forward, almost willingly, the metal grinded furiously, blood dripping everywhere from its last encounter with flesh and bone.  
  
The slicing suddenly ceased, but only for a moment, just enough time for Dennis to slip between the shredding rings and land safely on the same ledge as Evelyn's cowering body.  
  
"Hold on!" he screamed to her through the loud grinding, she wrapped her arms around him tightly as she pressed her tear filled face against him in fear.  
  
The glass barriers all around them shattered unmeticulously in one loud swoop of the explosion from below. The spinning blades were hit hard by the sudden impact which left them flailing unsteadily as they fell against each other wearyingly.  
  
It was over.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
The house was demolished, the glass walls were now scattered among the cracked floors, the spells were broken, and the twelve earthbound spirits were no longer its prisoners.  
  
They exited its broken structure one by one, the First Born Son racing across the field into the woods in hope to find a new playmate, The Pilgrimess scurried towards the trees in hope of release, The Hammer marched in search of his lost family, The Torso carried his head along after them while the Torn Prince drug his splintered bat into a field he could not play a game on. The Bound Woman untied her hands as she danced to her own song, The Great Child held his Dire Mother's hand as she followed in line with the circus of souls, The Withered Lover smiled at their maternal affection as she ascended into a new realm, The Juggernaut lurched towards the highway like a hitchhiker, The Jackal hoped along flailing his now free arms in the night air as The Angry Princess glanced back one last time at the structure that once held her captive... only now she was free.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
Evelyn still clung tight to him as they rested upon the unharmed metal platform in the center of the now idle rings.  
  
"Are you alright?" Dennis asked almost frantically as he raised himself upward, unshielding her.  
  
"I think so, are you?" Evy answered in a shaky voice.  
  
"I am now." He responded calmly as he stared at her in relief.  
  
Evelyn hugged him even tighter then she had before the rings had stopped spinning.  
  
"Marry me." Dennis said suddenly, Evy eased back from their embrace and stared at him.  
  
"Okay." She concluded with a smile as her eyes filled with new tears, only this time they were tears of happiness.  
  
Alex watched them in silence as she leaned against the same metal brace as before. A peaceful smile grew on her face as she witnessed their love... she then disappeared.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
Serena stumbled through the wreckage that was once a machine designed by the devil and powered by the dead. She made her way towards the large room where Evy and Dennis embraced, shaking the bits of broken glass out of her hair, when suddenly she came across something at her feet. Slowly she looked down at the bloody, crushed figure that was once her sister, Kalina.  
  
Slowly Serena sighed, fighting back every tear she felt building in her eyes, then suddenly something caught her attention, it was the smashed leather bound book that rest beside Kalina's broken body. Serena bent down and gathered up the Arcanum in both hands, wiping off the splatters of blood and pieces of broken glass, she then held it to her chest and sighed, this time a sigh of determination as she continued to step through the rumble into the approaching dawn.  
  
The End.  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
[If this were a movie the credits would begin now... but what would a good movie be without a killer soundtrack to follow...]  
  
(Music In: Evanescence, Bring Me To Life)  
  
How can you see into my eyes like open doors  
  
Leading you down into my core  
  
Where I've become so numb without a soul  
  
My spirit sleeping somewhere cold  
  
Until you find it there and lead me back home  
  
Wake me up inside  
  
Wake me up inside  
  
Call my name and save me from the dark  
  
Bid my blood to run before I come undone  
  
Save me from the nothing I've become  
  
Now that I know what I'm without  
  
You can't just leave me  
  
Breathe into me and make me real  
  
Bring me to life  
  
Wake me up inside  
  
Wake me up inside  
  
Call my name and save me from the dark  
  
Bid my blood to run before I come undone  
  
Save me from the nothing I've become  
  
Bring me to life  
  
Frozen inside without your touch without your love  
  
Darling only you are the life among the dead  
  
All this time I can't believe I couldn't see  
  
Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me  
  
I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems  
  
Got to open my eyes to everything  
  
Without a thought without a voice without a soul  
  
Don't let me die here there must be something more  
  
Bring me to life  
  
Wake me up inside  
  
Wake me up inside  
  
Call my name and save me from the dark  
  
Bid my blood to run before I come undone  
  
Save me from the nothing I've become  
  
Bring me to life  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*  
  
*****************************  
  
The Thir13enth Ghost: The Ocularis  
  
*****************************  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters portrayed or depicted in this story, the idea is purely based on the creations of Dark Castle Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures. Any similarities to real life people or events is truly coincidental.  
  
Do not sue, plagiarize, or even think about taking me to court cuz ya won't get one dime from me damnit! Not one measly dime, you hear me!!!  
  
P.S. 3rd Series, The Thir13enth Ghost: Legacy, coming soon! (Title may change) 


End file.
